You’d Never Know These BBQ Ribs Were Cooked in the Instant Pot

When you think of weeknight dinners, you probably don’t immediately think of ribs. But that’s all about to change, thanks to food director Carla Lalli Music’s new Instant Pot ribs recipe. Not only do they come together in a flash, but they’re glazed with a sticky, spicy-sweet sauce that you’ll lick right off your fingers—because you’ll be eating with them.

Any pressure cooker (stovetop, electric, Instant Pot, or other brand of multicooker) will do for this recipe. You’re just speeding up the pre-cook process before they hit the grill. Instead of going low-and-slow in the oven for hours, the ribs get tender in nine minutes under high pressure. To pack in as much flavor as possible, the ribs are dry-rubbed with Chinese hot mustard powder (or regular mustard powder, like Colman’s, which will have a little less bite), garlic powder, sugar, and salt. They can hang out for as little as an hour or up to 48 if you want to prep them the night before or in the morning before you go to work. The four pounds of ribs in this recipe will serve four people as a main dish, or more if you end up making them for a BBQ and put them out alongside other grilled meats, burgers, and hot dogs

The next layer of flavor come from using mirin at the bottom of the Instant Pot to steam the ribs. This sweet Japanese rice wine will help balance out the spicy mustard powder and the Sriracha in the glaze. After the meat is done pressure cooking, it will be tender but not quiiiiite fall-off-the-bone, meaning you can grill it without it falling apart and easily pick it up to eat.

But the moment we’ve all been waiting for is the glaze. After reducing the mirin-and-pork-infused juices from the Instant Pot with ginger, Sriracha, white vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar into a syrupy glaze, slather it on the ribs, grill, and repeat. (If you don’t have a grill, you can also broil the ribs, but keep an eye on them so the sugar doesn’t scorch.) The sugars will caramelize until the ribs are dark brown, and the salty-spicy-sweet glaze will make the whole thing glisten. This sauce doesn’t skew too sweet or too spicy: it’s perfectly balanced. It’s sticky enough that you have an excuse to lick it off your fingers instead of using a stack of napkins, and you can say you’re saving the environment at the same time.

Because these ribs are spicy and fatty, they are best served with a crunchy slaw, a chewy grain salad, or anything bright and refreshing. Any of your standard BBQ sides will do. And if this sauce isn’t speaking to you, listen closer. Just kidding—any ribs recipe can be converted to this pressure-cooker-then-grill method (like our best-ever barbecue ribs), so feel free to change up the rub and sauce to whatever you’re in the mood for. Weeknights will never be the same again.